REWIND
by A.K.Rants
Summary: War had come and they had lost. The battered teens that made up Team 7 were the only ones that had made it out alive. Wallowing in regret and despair they made a wish that they were sure that nobody could hear, but someone did. "You wish to go back?"
1. Chapter 1

**"I-I wish... I wish we could go back."**

* * *

"This...this wasn't suppose to happen."

Blue eyes stared at the scene before them. Dead bodies, bleeding bodies, carnage in every fashion and form for as far as they could see. Naruto felt like puking. From beside him, he heard a slight gag. He looked over, it was Sasuke. His greatest friend and rival had dark circles that could rival even Gaara's and his complexion was abnormally pale for even that of an Uchiha.

"I- I didn't," the Uchiha began. A distant look clouded his eyes. "This is my fault isn't it?"

Naruto threw his arm around his teammate and pulled him into his chest, shielding him from the carnage.

"This is not your fault. The only person at fault is that monster. Him."

Naruto gritted his teeth. He couldn't even say his name! Naruto's blue eyes scanned the scene once more. No, he was wrong this, this carnage, this tragedy, it was his own fault wasn't it? It was all because he was just-

"Too weak!"

Naruto ran an Kyuubi-clawed hand through his hair, drawing blood. Sasuke grabbed it and the two stared at each, both feeling as if everything was their fault. Their self-loathing was interrupted by a sudden flare of familiar chakra.

"Sakura?" The name came out like a whisper from both young men's mouths. Was she alive?!

They both immediately ran towards the chakra, blind to their surroundings. There she was covered in dirt, mud, sweat and blood. Their blossom had been stained by war and even still she was doing what she knew best, healing. The pink haired girl refused to look up at them although she had clearly felt their approach.

"Sakura." The call was soft, gentle and came from the boy that she had come to recognize as light. She still refused to look up, continuing her pointless healing of a person long gone.

"Sakura." His was one that she hadn't heard in years. It was cautious as if unsure if he were allowed to call her by name.

She felt him place a large, calloused hand on her shoulder. "Sakura, stop."

The pinkette shook her head.

"Please Sakura. Stop."

Sakura could feel the pain in his voice and that made her refusal harsher. Then she felt a warm embrace pull her off of his body, hands still shining a dimming green. The embrace was warm and faintly smelled of home, it was Naruto.

"Sakura...Kakashi's gone. You can't save him anymore."

Sakura wanted to thrash around, violently scream, punch him with a chakra enhanced fist and demand how he could give up so easily, how he could give up on him, on their sensei. But she didn't. She couldn't. Every single word that he had just said was so cruelly, cruelly true. After all, she had been the one to helplessly watch him die over 30 minutes ago.

Sakura fell into Naruto's chest and rested her head on Sasuke's shoulder whom was beside them. The three stared at the corpse before them and all the corpses around them.

"Why?" Sakura finally began. "Why is it only us?"

And the three of them huddled closer together, closer to the only people they had left. Sakura continued her speech, her eyes dead to the world.

"I wish...I wish I could go back in time." It came out as a whisper, a whisper that only they would hear. "I would tell my parents that I loved them."

Sasuke rested his own head atop of Sakura's. He would do the same.

"And I would find you, Naruto, and you, Sasuke, and we'd all- ... We'd all be the best of friends."

The two boys smiled sadly.

"And we'd all train together and prevent all the bad things from happening. We would- we would save the world together and we would never, never ever leave any of us behind. We would stick together no matter what."

Silent tears appeared on Sakura's face once more and she struggled to continue her tangent.

"I-I wish... I wish we could go back."

Naruto nodded, "Me too Sakura. Me too."

"Me three," Sasuke whispered in a voice only he could hear.

The three of them sat there in their regret, in their wishes, unmoving, uncaring. Nothing mattered anymore. They had failed. He was still alive somewhere out there, critically wounded yes, but very much alive and everyone else... Everyone else was dead.

"You wish to go back?"

Startled, the three shinobi jumped to their feet and fell into a battle stance. Sakura had a kunai in each hand, Sasuke had a hand on his Kusanagi, and Naruto was ready to form a rasengan.

"Peace shinobi. I am no enemy."

Team 7 stared at the person before them. This person, this girl more specifically, looked like a ghost. She had snow colored hair that was longer than she, herself, ridiculously pale, gray-blue skin, large, silver-white eyes, and she wore a short, tattered white kimono as if to even more so establish her position as an undead being.

"Who are you?" the Uchiha basically threatened although, his voice lacked the usual all-commanding tone.

The girl blinked. "I have no name. I am merely known as a Ghost."

"Ghost?" Naruto repeated, skepticism with a hint of curiosity laced within his voice.

"Yes. A Ghost of Time."

"Explain." Sakura demanded. She was tired of the riddles, of thinking. She just wanted clear answers.

"The Guardian of Time is known to revive souls of diseased children to look watch over a certain period of time and assure that the time of that period is flowing correctly. I died as a stillborn and was revived by The Guardian, making me the Ghost of Time for this time period."

"Okay..." Sakura began, still very suspicious. "Then say you are some sort of Keeper of Time. Why have you appeared before us?"

The blank faced ghost tilted her head slightly to the right as if to demonstrate a sense of confusion.

"Did you all not wish to travel back in time?"

Their eyes widened unbelievably.

"W-what?" Sakura whispered in disbelief.

The ghost tilted her head almost comically further. "Was my voice unclear?" She mumbled to herself.

"Did you all not just wish to travel back in time?" Her words were slow and precise.

From behind Sakura, Naruto mumbled in disbelief. "Seriously?"

"Yes, very much so," The ghost answered, unaware that Naruto had simply been talking to himself. "Did you all no longer wish to go?"

"No! I mean! Yes. Yes. YES! We wish to go!" Sasuke yelled in uncharacteristic excitement that caught both Naruto and Sakura off guard.

The ghost returned her head to a normal position and nodded. "And you two?"

They quickly recovered from seeing such an excited Sasuke and yelled in unison.

"Of course!"

The blank faced ghost stared at the three silently as if deliberating something. She then spoke.

"Well alright then..."

Without so much of a warning, the ghost closed her eyes and began chanting in language unknown to the three shinobi. Seals of some sort soon began appearing from the outer corner of her eyes. They began to travel down her face, her neck, her body, her arms and leg and down into the ground forming a large circle around the four of them. The seals began to glow a bright white and clock faces of all kinds began to surround the four of them. Naruto marveled at the scene before him and his eyes widened in surprise as he watched images from their past begin to appear around them as well. The light began to become more and more blinding with each minute and then after what felt like eternity the ghost slowly opened her eyes revealing two clock faces.

"REWIND."


	2. Chapter 2

**"So you've finally arrived Uzumaki Naruto."**

* * *

White, floating, weightless. It was nothing like Naruto had ever imagined, time travel that is. He had imagined this feeling of being quickly sucked into a vortex only to pop out into a different time, but it was nothing like that at all. It was a slow, almost tranquil process as seals slowly formed and you were slowly brought into this pure white dimension that he was in right now. And the oddest part was that the dimension itself had this calming and relaxing atmosphere that made the place just so soothing to the point that you didn't really feel like leaving.

Truthfully, Naruto was starting to wonder if he honestly did want to leave this dimension. In here there were no pressures. He didn't need to be a hero, didn't have to prove himself to anyone, he didn't need to do anything really. He could just relax. Those thoughts played through Naruto's mind and he slowly found himself ascending into a tranquil state of not caring about anything.

After what felt like minutes an image of the war he had just escaped flew by and that tranquil state was ruined. Naruto knew that he could stay here no longer. He couldn't relax, wouldn't relax. There was so much he needed to do. A breeze sudden blew through the seemingly airless dimension and caused Naruto to turn his body and follow it. A white archway had appeared with an image of his younger self.

Without any hesitation, Naruto began to walk towards the image. He stared at it before and grinned his signature grin.

"All right..." he began, pumping himself up. "Let's do this!"

Cautiously, Naruto touched his image and once again a blinding white light enveloped him. It was time to face the past.

* * *

Glares. Whispers. Harsh words. Naruto flinched. He had forgotten how bad it used to be within the village, especially since people had recently been treating him as the future Hokage. The blonde haired child sighed, he was back to square one and for now all he could do was ignore the harsh treatment. He would show them all just how awesome he was later.

Ignoring the whispers, Naruto began to nonchalantly walk through the street as he pondered on what to do.

_"First I need to go find Sakura-chan and Sasuke-teme and from there we need to figure out what the exact time period is and then..."_

"Oi! Naruto!"

Naruto's thoughts suddenly stopped and he found himself automatically smiling. The blonde haired child then, without his mind actually comprehending what he was doing, turned around and blurted out a name that he had no idea that he knew.

"Yuu-nee!"

He quickly ran towards the person that had called out to him and then suddenly he stopped. His body and his mind seemed to catch up with each other and Naruto realized just who the person before him was.

The girl looked a tad bit different. For one, she was younger. Her hair was still stark white, but rather than it being floor length, it was a much more reasonable length and loosely braided to the side with two long strands kept down in the front to frame her face. She also still wore a white kimono, but it was much shorter and sleeveless for that matter. However instead of being all white her obi was a pretty shade of a greyish blue and she wore a large teal scarf around her neck. On her feet were standard black shinobi shoes and finger-less, elbow length gloves adorned her hands. However, the most interesting and shocking thing about her changed look was the black hitai-ate that was around her obi.

"You! You're the Ghost of Time!"

The girl's eyes widened and within seconds he found himself being carried over her shoulder as she shunshined him to some destination that was actually quite familiar. It was the 3rd training grounds. The girl looked him up and down before breaking into a grin.

"So you've finally arrived Uzumaki Naruto."

Said boy gave a confused look.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean you're the last one to arrive kid! Sasuke arrived last year and Sakura arrived a year before he did."

Naruto's eyes widened. "Wait wha-"

"Yuu-nee! Naru-Naru!"

Naruto turned to the sound of the high pitched voice and practically doubled over. Sakura was running towards him holding Sasuke's hand and they were both smiling and laughing. Furthermore, Uchiha Itachi was trailing behind them along with some other guy that Naruto guessed to be an Uchiha, although his carefree smile had him thinking of other possibilities. All in all the sight was, in the simplest of terms, shocking so Naruto voiced his shock aloud.

"What the hell is this madness? Am I dreaming?"

The snow haired girl laughed. "I assure you that you're not dreaming. You're just looking at the all the hard work that Sakura and I and I guess Sasuke, have put in to change the future so far. Anyways, I'll distract the Uchihas so that you can properly talk Sakura and Sasuke, but first..."

The older girl discreetly pointed towards Itachi.

"I'm sure that you already know, but if you didn't, that's Sasuke's brother Itachi and the other Uchiha with shorter hair is Shisui. Shisui is hmm... how to describe it... He's your 'role model'. You love that guy since he's so friendly and "non-Uchiha-like" as you so eloquently stated a couple of months ago and he likes you because you two are so alike personality wise. Anyways, Shisui is 15, Itachi is 12, I'm 10, and you, Sakura, and Sasuke are all 6. Get everything so far?"

Naruto nodded.

"Okay now just play along and go tackle Sakura and Sasuke with a smile on your face or something and then go give Shisui a hug and salute Itachi like you usually do."

Naruto smirked. he could do that. Dramatically, Naruto stretched his arms out and began dashing towards Sasuke and Sakura. He lightly noted that his speed was quicker than he had remembered it to be for his age. Within seconds he came crashing into his old friends earning a playful shriek from Sakura and a grunt from Sasuke.

"Ouch what the heck dobe!"

Naruto easily shifted his weight so that he was now pinning down Sasuke.

"What'd you call me teme?"

"You heard me dobe."

"WHY YOU!"

Before the situation could escalate further he felt an oddly familiar pair of hands lift him off of Sasuke. Naruto turned his head to see that it was the short-haired Uchiha, Shisui with a grin on his face.

"Now, now Naruto. Save it for sparring. Then you can pound Sasuke-chan's face in."

Naruto grinned. He could already tell why his other self like this guy.

"Hey Shisui-nii!" Naruto greeted nonchalantly as he gave the older boy a hug.

"Hello to you too kid! Have you been working on the shunshin like I told you to?"

The blonde automatically nodded as he faintly racked his memory to find that he had been practicing the shunshin technique and that he was actually quite good at it. Naruto faintly felt Itachi approach them and turned to salute him just like Yuu had told him to. An amused smile graced the Uchiha's face as he playfully saluted back.

Naruto gawked. What had happened to the murderous, although Naruto knew it was fake murderous, intimidating, and evil-looking Uchiha Itachi and who was this happier, playful, more feminine looking, quite possibly beautiful- Naruto stopped his thoughts. Did he just think that Uchiha Itachi was feminine and beautiful looking? Thankfully for Naruto, Yuu took that moment to begin her distracting of the Uchihas which allowed for the blonde haired boy to forget his odd train of thought.

"Itachi-chan, Shisui-chan, wanna go spar?"

If Naruto had been drinking water he would have spat it all over everyone and everything. Did she just say 'chan'? Naruto cautiously checked their reactions. Shisui looked 'normal' and still had a grin on his face and Itachi looked a combination of peeved and entertained.

"Oh! I'm up for it!" Shisui answered with a grin. "What about you old man?" The older Uchiha lightly elbowed Itachi. "Think you can handle a little spar or are your muscles too achy?"

Itachi rolled his eyes. "Keep talking and see what happens brat."

Yuu laughed. "Alright then it's settle. 1v1v1 and no chakra. Sound good?"

Itachi and Shisui flanked Yuu's side like it was the most natural thing in the world. Naruto silently noted that they seemed a lot like a team or something.

"You sure you can handle us with no chakra little Yuu?" Shisui teased.

"Indeed. We'll give you a handicap if you want," Itachi continued. "After all you're only a child."

Now Yuu was the one that looked both entertained and peeved. "Trash talking? That's most unbecoming of you **little** Uchihas."

The three of them all exchanged looks and it was clear that the shots had been fired. With a speed that Naruto's current untrained eyes couldn't follow, they disappeared as their 'spar' began.

Naruto stood there in awe and unsure of everything. Too much was happening and he couldn't take it anymore.

"WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON!?"

Sakura and Sasuke gave Naruto a weird look before looking back to each other to silently communicate. Sakura was the first to speak.

"Naruto... is that you?" It was cautious and unsure.

Naruto stood up and allowed for his signature cocky grin to grace his features. He planted both hands on his hips.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, Teme and Sakura, the moment you have been waiting for has finally arrived. I, Uzumaki Naruto have arrived in this timeline!"

Sakura pounced on the shorter blonde as she cried out his name in joy. Naruto quickly hugged the pink haired girl back. It felt like and was technically, ages since he last saw her.

Sasuke stood there and smirked. "Took you long enough. You were just about to miss all the action."

Naruto raised a blonde brow.

"What are you talking about? What action?"

Sakura removed herself from Naruto and glanced up at Sasuke, silently communicating once again. The two had apparently grown much closer in Naruto's "absence". Once they were done with their telepathy, Sasuke turned his attention towards Naruto once again.

"Listen up and listen good dobe."

Naruto bit back a retaliation for the rude nickname and opted to patiently listen.

"Me and Sakura are going to inform you about all the crap that you've missed out on and then..." The atmosphere sobered and a tense and unreadable expression graced Sasuke's features. "I'm going to tell you how were going to make sure the Uchiha massacre never occurs."


End file.
